Apple to Suspend Sales of Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 in the US
The suspension of the marketing of these smartwatches is adopted as a preventive measure after a dispute over patent infringement with the company Masimo.
Apple has announced that it will suspend sales in the United States of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 models starting December 21 in its online store and starting December 24 in physical stores. This decision comes as a result of a legal dispute with Masimo, an American health technology company, which alleges patent infringement by Cupertino in the blood oxygen monitoring technology it incorporated into these devices.
Furthermore, the technology giant’s preventive measure is due to the possibility that President Joe Biden will not veto the sales ban imposed by the International Trade Commission (ITC), which had issued an order to prevent the import of these smartwatches.
As reported by the specialized portal 9to5Mac, Apple has expressed its disagreement with the ruling and seeks to protect its market through “legal and technical options” to ensure that its products remain accessible to its consumers. The conflict between Apple and Masimo arises from the alleged violation of patents related to the pulse oximeter included in these two devices that are part of the latest generation of health wearables developed by Cupertino.
In addition, they also point out that the company led by Tim Cook has chosen to “steal” several engineers from Masimo. The controversy comes after a similar dispute with AliveCor, where the White House intervened and Apple managed to circumvent a previous ITC block over cardiac monitoring patents.
The resolution of this new legal challenge could set a significant precedent for the future of sales and import operations of the company in the US market. For now, it has not yet detailed compensatory measures for consumers or distributors affected by the pause in sales. This while highlighting the tension between technological innovations and intellectual property rights in the industry.
Meanwhile, Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 users have reported problems with their battery life, indicating that the devices presented serious problems regarding the use of their battery and that it would be running out a long time before expected during normal use. It has been confirmed that the problem is not caused by a component of the watches, but rather that it has been generated from an error in the company’s watchOS. Although the problem has arisen since the arrival of the watchOS 10 update, the company has indicated that it is working on the development of a new version of the operating system that solves this problem.